Elon Musk Announces New Flights To Mars At SXSW

Musk’s privately-funded SpaceX announced back in September that their goal is to send a cargo mission to Mars by 2022. Eventually, SpaceX would like to lay the foundation for civilization to be able to live and thrive on the Red Planet.

On Sunday, Musk just upped the ante. During a Q & A session at the festival, Musk announced: “We are building the first Mars, or interplanetary ship, and I think we’ll be able to do short trips, flights by first half of next year.”

Musk poked a little fun at himself for having high expectations about his goal, following up the announcement with: “Although sometimes, my timelines are a little, you know…”

Question: "Everyone in this room is inspired by you. Who inspires you?"

Expectations are that SpaceX’s newest iteration of its reusable rocket system, the BFR, will have the capabilities needed for interplanetary travel and will cost less than the $5-$6 million Musk projected the initial Falcon 1 flights to cost.

“The biggest thing that would be helpful is just general support and encouragement and goodwill,” Musk said. “I think once we build it we’ll have a point of proof something that other companies and countries can go and do. They certainly don’t think it’s possible, but if we do they’ll up their game.”

There will be a lot of things needed in order for Mars to be able to sustain human visitors, Musk warned. Glass domes, a power station, and “basic living fundamentals” will all need to be installed as infrastructure first.